Unexpected Connections
by ericaj318
Summary: A mostly fluff story about Peter Parker's tutor and her meeting Tony Stark during the events of Spiderman: Homecoming. Tony StarkxOC
1. Chapter 1

Erica walked next door to begin her usual afternoon tutoring session with Peter. She reached the door and knocked gently but the door was quickly opened by Peter's Aunt May.

"Erica," she said, her expression always warm and welcoming, "Peter's in his room with someone but I'm sure it won't be a problem if you join them. They should be nearly finished," she informed the girl.

Erica nodded as she walked past May and back toward Peter's room where she gently knocked once more, this time on his door.

"Who is it?" she heard his voice yell distinctly through the door.

"It's Erica," she replied, surprised he didn't know already since she came at the same time every afternoon, "I'm here to work on your history paper like we've done every other day this week."

Erica listened at the door as she heard some soft exchanges before the door opened to reveal Peter, his usual self, but on his bed sat another man. Erica recognized him immediately as her jaw dropped.

"Tony Stark?" she said, unable to hide her sheer delight at being in the same room as her favorite Avenger and crush, "What are you doing in Peter Parker's bedroom?" she asked, her shock still evident.

Tony stood and walked toward her, his calm demeanor only making her anxiety worse, "I am working on a little project with Mr. Parker here and you look a little too old to be in high school. I mean that in a good way," he clarified causing a blush to warm Erica's cheek, "So, what is your business here, if you don't mind me asking?"

She attempted to take a deep breath and gather herself before speaking again, afraid to scare him off with her starstruck reaction, "I am a Senior at NYU and this kid may be a genius at the things in your universe but he can't write a paper to save his life so I have been tutoring him for the last year," she explained, "But, if you two are busy then I can just come back later on tonight unless you have plans, Peter?"

Peter shook his head looking as if he was hoping he wouldn't have to speak at all during this interaction because he honestly had no idea what he would say to even try to sum up why Ironman was in his bedroom.

Luckily for him, Tony smiled as he spoke once more, "Nonsense, his school work is much more important then anything he and I were working on. I will leave you two to it. What's your name? I didn't seem to catch it," he said as he looked directly at her, sending a shiver up her spine.

Erica felt like an idiot as she'd told him why she was there and her education level but not her name, "I didn't mention it. I'm Erica Lowery and it is very nice to meet you."

"I'm gonna call you Lowery," he replied as he held out his hand to her which she gladly reached out and shook, "And, I very much hope we get to cross paths again soon. Maybe you should start arriving a little early for tutoring," he threw a wink her way as he nodded at Peter and exited the room.

Erica took a moment to absorb everything she'd just lived through before she turned to Peter, "You know I have been talking about that man for months and you couldn't mention that I might run into him here. I would have worked so much harder on my appearance," she finished with a frown before walking to Peter's bed and taking a seat so she could unload her backpack.

Peter sighed, "I really didn't think you'd ever run into each other, to be honest. But, you look great so don't worry about that," he finished with a smile.

Erica smiled back at his compliment, "Well, we have a lot of work to get to if we're going to get you an 'A' on this assignment. Did you do the draft like I asked you?" she asked, trying to focus on the purpose of her visit and not the butterflies flying around her stomach from moments before.

Peter pulled out a printed paper and passed it to her, "I got half of it done."

"Give me a second to read over it," she replied as she took the paper before looking back at Peter once more, "What are you helping Tony Stark with?"

"He's more helping me but I can't really talk about it," he replied, looking away.

Erica wanted to pry more because she knew Peter would eventually give it up but she decided to simply bask in the joy of meeting her crush and getting a little flirtation from him then to dive into the possibilities of why he was there at all. The two got straight to work on his paper over the next few hours before Erica went back to her house to work on the hours of homework she had to do for herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Erica got ready to head to campus for her Friday classes choosing something comfortable to wear. She settled on a romper and pulled her curls into a messy bun before heading to class. She sat through a grant writing class before packing her things to get ready to go back home.

When she walked out of the building, she saw Tony Stark leaning against the stairwell.

"Hi Mr. Stark," Erica greeted him, "What are you doing on campus?"

Tony's lips curled into a cocky grin as he replied, "I came to see you, Lowery and please call me Tony. Mr. Stark was my Dad. What are you plans for this afternoon?"

Erica tried to suppress a blush as she replied, "I was planning to go home and study. How'd you'd know where I'd be?" she added curiously.

Tony grinned again as he pulled off his sunglasses, "I looked you up. I didn't have your number to call and ask. So, would you like to join me this afternoon? I'm heading to an event in the park and I could use a date."

Erica was shocked that Tony Stark was at her school asking her out on a date but she nodded, "I'd love to go. Is this outfit ok or should I go home and change?"

"You look perfect," Tony replied reaching out his hand for hers, which she took, "It's an Art in the Park event so people will be dressed anywhere from casual to overdressed."

Erica nodded as she followed him to his car where he opened the door for her to get in and then he joined her. "Peter told me you're really into his aunt so shouldn't you be asking her to this?" she asked, still shaken by why he wanted to take her out.

Tony grinned again as he placed his sunglasses back on, "Aunt May is a very fine Italian woman but she hates me so I know it's better to not even try. Speaking of Peter, Happy tells me he's been cutting back on his extracurriculars, do you know why?"

Erica was a little disappointed suddenly, wondering if this was just a facade to get info on Peter but she answered, "Well, I didn't know about you until just last night but he told me that he's doing an Internship for you and that it's keeping him very busy so that might be why."

"Lowery, you don't think I asked you out to spy on Peter do you?" Tony asked, noticing the sudden change in her mood after Peter had been brought up in conversation.

Erica tried to lie but she nodded, "That makes more sense then Tony Stark being interested in a college senior he met once by chance."

Tony laughed, "It might make more sense but that's not what I'm here for. I like you and it seemed like you liked me as well so I wanted to see where it would go. Is that ok with you, Lowery?"

Erica laughed as she nodded, "Yes, sorry it's just that I've had a crush on you for a long time so it's just a little surreal for me. Do you know any of the artists at this event or are you going as a donor?"

"Second one," he replied, "I have to show my face as an interested party. Once we do a walk around then we can do whatever you want."

Erica nodded as they arrived at Central Park and took a look at the art. She was shocked by how many people were snapping photos of the two of them and she was not looking forward to the million questions her classmates would have Monday. Once they did a walk through, Tony guided her back to the car.

"What would you like to do next?" he asked once they were inside.

"I wish I could hang out longer but I need to get home and study for a test I have online at midnight," she replied, disappointed to have to end this date.

"Do you have time for a quick bite to eat?" he asked, not ready to end the night.

Erica shook her head, "I wish I could say yes but I really need to get a good grade. I don't want to mess up my GPA in the last semester. Maybe some other time?"

"Absolutely some other time," he replied as they began going towards her house.

Once they arrived, Tony leaned over toward her side of the car and placed his lips gently to hers. He pulled back and asked, "Wanna give me your number to make next time a little easier to make happen?"

"Yes," Erica replied breathless as she wrote it down for him, "Until next time," she said as she got out of the car.


	3. Chapter 3

The following Monday after radio silence from Tony, Erica walked over to Peter's to study. When she knocked, May answered, "Hey Sweetie, he's not home yet. Do you wanna wait in his room?"

Erica nodded, "That'll be fine."

May nodded as Erica walked past her to Peter's room to wait on him. As she sat on his bed, her phone lit up with a text. She opened it to read, "Our friend kept me busy this weekend along with some out of town business. I hope you'll let me make up the silence with a dinner date this week. Tony."

Erica smiled at her phone screen before putting it away for a moment so she wouldn't reply too fast. As she put her phone down and looked back up, Spiderman was standing in front of her.

"You're Spiderman?" she asked in shock.

"Oh my god, Erica!" Peter replied, "What are you doing here?"

"The same thing I'm always doing here," she answered, "Helping you with school work. How long have you been saving people dressed as a spider?"

"A while," he answered, "I don't have time to study tonight though because I am on to something big and I need to get this guy to make Mr. Stark proud of me."

"Oh wow," she realized, "That's why you know him. You're like his little superhero trainee. Wow, that's really cool. Well, if you don't wanna study that's fine but do you wanna tell me what big thing you're after?"

Peter's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "So, I was at a party and I saw something crazy far away so I went to look into it and it was this weapons sale with crazy weapons that were way more high tech then they should have been. I tried to take them out but then this crazy guy dressed like a bird grabbed me and dropped me into the lake. Now, I have a lead because I put a tracker on one of the guys so I'm going to find their evil lair."

"Wow, well if you need any help with your mission count me in because I need something fun and spontaneous to get me out of my senioritis," she answered, "Are you going to your Decathlon or are you skipping out on that too?"

"I might go if the tracker leads me there. Anyway Ned is going to be over soon to help me watch it. Do you wanna stay?" Peter asked.

"Ned stares at me creepily so I'll pass," she replied, "See you tomorrow. Text me if you're too busy."

Erica walked back to her house where she went straight to her room and pulled out her phone to reply to Tony. She typed, "Our friend just updated me on all that he's been up to and it does sound like he's keeping you busy. I'd love to do dinner one night this week. Peter is busy so any night should be good for me."

After she typed the message, she put her phone on the charger and walked downstairs to find something to eat. Her Dad was a surgeon and he wouldn't be home for hours or maybe not until morning.

She ate and walked back upstairs to see her phone screen lit up again. She read the reply, "I'll pick you up at eight Wednesday. Wear something nice. Tony."

She smiled to herself as she laid down on her bed. She didn't have class on Mondays but tomorrow she'd be getting questioned by anyone who saw her photos with Tony online. She didn't even know how to explain what was going on.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Erica was at school when she sat down in class and every girl in the room was staring at her. She knew they'd be jealous or perhaps even murderous over those photos.

"Hey class," her professor began, "How was everyone's weekend?"

"Ask Erica," One girl huffed, "She was all over the internet with Tony Stark this weekend."

"You hung out with Tony Stark?" the professor asked, directing her attention to Erica.

Erica nodded, "Yeah. It was just a casual thing. We went to an art show. My neighbor is doing an internship for him so that's how we met."

She spent the rest of the day avoiding conversation and eye contact until she finally got home. She knew her date with Tony wasn't for another night but she was already in her closet looking for something nice to wear.

She settled on a black dress that she wore to all nice events her Dad took her too and then she hit the books, counting down the minutes until her date.

Wednesday night was finally there and Erica spent two hours getting ready for her date, making sure her curls sat just right.

Right at 8 o'clock, her doorbell went off so she walked downstairs to open it.

Tony's face lit up when he saw her, "You look beautiful," he said with a warm smile.

"You look very handsome yourself," she replied, "Where are you taking me?"

"Do you like good Chinese?" he asked as he offered his arm.

Erica took it, "I love it."

They got in the car and rode to a nice Chinese restaurant in Manhattan where Tony had reserved a table for them in the back. Once they took their seats, a waiter arrived with the establishment's best wine.

"What would you two like to eat?" the waiter asked after pouring them each a glass of wine.

Tony ordered orange chicken with rice and then looked to Erica, "What'll you have, Lowery?"

"I'll have the same," she said with a smile. The waiter wrote it down and disappeared.

"How has school been going this week?" Tony asked.

Erica laughed a little at his question because their relationship seemed so out of nowhere, "It's been good other then all of the girls in class wanting me dead for going on a date with you."

"They saw the pictures online from the Park?" he asked.

Erica nodded, "Yep but it wasn't as bad as I'd expected so that was good. How has your week been?"

"The same as every week," Tony replied, "Making millions while also trying to reign in all these new super heroes that are going to take over the Avengers team."

"Like Peter?" she replied, "He told me his superhero identity by accident. You're going to give up being Ironman?" she asked in follow up to what he'd revealed.

"I'll always be Ironman when the world needs me to be but I'm looking to take a more administrative role in the hero department. I'm getting too old to fly around in that suit saving the day," he confessed, though she could see a hint of sadness on his face.

"I don't think you'll ever be too old to be Ironman but if you need to cut back then you need to cut back. It'll be a sad day though when you are no longer flying in to save the day. You saved me when the aliens attacked. I think that's when the crush first started," she revealed.

"We saved a lot of people that day but like always we also did a lot of damage. So, what's your major at NYU?" he changed the subject.

"Shouldn't you know already since you stalked my class schedule?" she replied with a grin.

"You've got me there," he laughed, "So, Professional Writing? What are you planning to do with that degree?"

"You sound just like my Dad," she replied causing the mood in the room to shift slightly, "I only meant that he thinks the same thing about my goals. But, I have a plan. I'm going to be a freelance writer and I can do anything from medical grants to legal documents. I'll be perfectly fine in the world once I'm out of school."

Tony smiled as he reached down and placed his hand on top of hers, "I don't doubt it. I am willing to bet I'll have some projects come up for you at my company. Are you planning to stay in NY? I only ask because I've sold Avengers Tower for a new and improved base upstate so if you go too far away it'll make it harder to keep seeing you."

"I'm going to be a NY girl forever," she replied, "I was raised upstate and when we moved to city I vowed to never leave. Are you still going to have a place here or will we be meeting in the middle for dates?"

"No, we won't be having any dates in the rural parts of NY," he laughed, "That is for sure. Do you think you might want to move to Avengers HQ and work out of there? I'm going to be down there full time. Since Cap left, these kids need me around."

"We've been on two dates," she replied, "And you want me to move to your Avengers training facility? Don't you think we should take some more time to see how things workout between us? You may hate my company after a few more dates," she reasoned.

"I like you a lot," he replied, "I know it's insane but everything I do is insane. I have messed up a lot of chances to be happy in the romance department before and I just feel like we have something special. I don't want to lose that and distance is something I don't want between us," he admitted, making Erica feel like she wasn't sure how to responds.

She could live there for the closeness and it wasn't like he was asking her to marry him, "Can I think about it?" she asked, knowing she needed more time then a meal to decide.

"Absolutely," he answered as their food arrived, "Take the time you need. We won't be officially moved for another month and a half so we have time to keep getting to know eachother though with the internet these days, it's not hard."

Erica laughed at the last part because he was right, you could learn everything you needed to know about a person from their online profile without ever speaking to them. They talked and laughed more over dinner and after, Tony stood to offer his hand for them to walk out.

"Thank you," she said as she took it.

"Would you like to come back to my place for a night cap?" Tony asked as they began moving toward the car.

"I have only ever heard that question asked in movies before but yes, I'd love to," she answered.


	5. Chapter 5

The following weekend, Erica had a notification on her phone from Peter when she woke up. "Do you still wanna help me with my mission?" it read.

She texted back 'yes' as she got up to get ready. Once she was dressed, she walked over to Peter's and knocked on the door. He answered but came out to join her.

"I found out about a weapon deal going down on a ferry today. I'm gonna stop it but I need eyes on this guy," he said as he showed her a photo of Adrian Toomes. "Can you watch him and keep me updated if he makes a move?"

"Sure, sounds easy enough. Do you want me to drive us there or are you going to carry me through the city, slinging your web from building to building?" she laughed as she tried to ask.

"Your car," he said with an eye roll.

Erica nodded as she led the way and they drove to the NY Ferry station. "Which one are we getting on?" she asked as they arrived.

"The 1 p.m. to Jersey," he replied as they got out to look at the schedule. "Get your ticket and find him. I'll be on the boat."

Erica nodded as he disappeared and she bought her ticket to the 1 o'clock. Once she was on board, it only took her a matter of minutes to get eyes on the guy she was after. She started an Instagram Live vid so Peter could watch his every move through her.

About twenty minutes into the ride, Toomes got up and began to walk. Erica got up too and followed as closely behind as she could without being seen.

She stopped the live feed once she was below deck behind the cars and called Peter.

"What's up?" he answered.

"Can your suit take phone calls?" she asked and then shook her head, "Sorry, that's not the point. They're all below deck making the deal in front of a white pickup."

"Ok, stay where you are," Peter directed, "I'm coming in."

Erica watched as Spiderman swung onto the scene to take down this weapon's dealer. Erica was so proud of Peter as she watched him take down the guys but then unexpectedly, the FBI jumped onto the scene causing Peter to panic.

Toomes ran back her direction and she tried to move out of sight but she wasn't fast enough as he grabbed her. Erica was stuck in his grip with a gun pressed up against the side of her head.

"Hey Spidey! Is this a friend of yours?" Toomes yelled as he backed away with her in his grasp.

Peter was surrounded and couldn't make a move so he grabbed the weapon they were there to sell with his web but it set it off and purple shots were going through both sides of the ferry boat.

"Looks like we need to make our exit, Pretty girl," Toomes said as he backed her into a corner, holding the gun to ensure she wouldn't move and putting on his suit.

"Hope you're not afraid of heights," he warned as he grabbed her again and took off into the sky.

As they were above the ferry, Erica could see the boat splitting in two and she knew Peter would be below trying to use his web to secure both sides and hold the ship together. When she looked back up, she saw Ironman flying onto the scene.

"You and your friend have brought way too much attention to this little deal," Toomes revealed, "Listen a hostage is not worth a fight with that guy so sorry but our ride ends here," he said as he dropped her from much higher up then she could survive the fall to the water.

She screamed as she began descending faster and faster toward the lake and just as she was about to hit the water, she felt two arms made of a metallic substance grasp her and pull her back into the air.

It was Ironman, he brought her back to the deck and said, "Stay here while I clean up this mess." She watched him disappear again as she held on tightly to the railing of the boat while Ironman fused it together once more. Once the boat was repaired, he flew back to where he'd left her and reached out his hand, "Coming Lowery?" he asked.

She nodded as she took it and he blasted into the sky with her safe once more in his arms. They flew to Avengers Tower, where the building took his suit off for him. Once he was back in street clothes, he was at her side, "Are you alright? I can't believe Peter dragged you into that mess."

"I'm fine," she stated, and it was the truth, "Peter was on the right track but he should have probably asked for your help to make the takedown. Listen, I've made a decision about your offer."

"To move to Avengers HQ?" he asked.

Erica nodded, "I don't want to just move there as your girlfriend though or whatever my role is in your life but I want to have a purpose. I liked helping Peter today so I want to be a member of the team."

"Lowery," he replied with a large grin, "Are you asking to be an Avenger?"

"No, not an Avenger but someone who helps them from behind the scenes that way if you and I don't work out I will still have a reason that I left my life here behind. What do you say?" she asked, batting her eyelashes in an adorable way.

Tony leaned forward and placed his lips against hers pulling her close to his body while she ran her hands up his back and into the hair on the back of his neck. He pulled back moments later and just looked at her.

"Is that a yes?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "And I wish I could stay here and celebrate but I have to go take Peter's suit away because he doesn't know how to use it responsibly."

"I think you should work more closely with him to take out this guy instead of benching Peter," Erica suggested, "He has his heart in the right place. Give him a chance."


End file.
